Monday, September 24, 2007

US-design Runs into Trouble Again

Right after Mattel's late apology to China for its own design flaws that caused 85% of its toys recalls, another US company, Simplicity, is recalling one million infant cribs after 3 deaths caused by its design flaws.

Friday, September 21, 2007

US Media Still Trying to Save Their Own Face After Mattel's Apology to China

Just in my previous post, Mattel openly aplogied to China for the damage caused by its own mistakes. It openly acknowledged that most of recent toy recalls were caused by its own design flaws. This late confession vastly differentiates with US media's unanimous blame on China companies' production quality and misleading their own readers.

Even before this simple and straight facts, US media are still trying to misleading their readers. For example, Newsweek just published Daniel Gross's artile on its web. They still stubbornly think Mattel's apologied because it must save face with China for business purpose. They don't blame themselves and Mattel for their own corrupt moral standard.

Newsweek and its writer Daniel Gross will never know how open this world is. US media cannot hide the truth and misleading readers now. Mattel is a dead company because its product quality and more important its moral standard. Newsweek is not very far.

Anyhow, they have to acknowledge that America can’t afford to offend or alienate China—not because it would suddenly stop selling goods to us, but because the U.S. economy has evolved in such a way that its health depends on China.

Congratuations, you can make some progress. Keep going! Thanks Newsweek to show their true face before the world and before the truth. This could be a very classic case in Journalists' class in colleges.

Late apology from Mattel to Chinese for the Toy Recalls

Mattel who recalled a lot of toys in US market acknowledges the major causes of the recalls are the company's design faults. Chinese companies only contributed a very small portion of the recalled. He company said it recalled more products than justified.

The company apologies for the damage on the reputation of Chinese manufacturers. The apology is too late as I have several posts on the issue and pointed Mattel's prolem long time ago. But better late than never.

BEIJING - U.S.-based toy giant Mattel Inc. issued an extraordinary apology to China on Friday over the recall of Chinese-made toys, taking the blame for design flaws and saying it had recalled more lead-tainted toys than justified.

The gesture by Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel’s executive vice president for worldwide operations, came in a meeting with Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang, at which Li upbraided the company for maintaining weak safety controls.

“Our reputation has been damaged lately by these recalls,” Debrowski told Li in a meeting at Li’s office at which reporters were allowed to be present.

“And Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys,” Debrowski said.

Mattel ordered three high-profile recalls this summer involving more than 21 million Chinese-made toys, including Barbie doll accessories and toy cars because of concerns about lead paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed.

The recalls have prompted complaints from China that manufacturers were being blamed for design faults introduced by Mattel.

On Friday, Debrowski acknowledged that “vast majority of those products that were recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel’s design, not through a manufacturing flaw in China’s manufacturers.”

Lead-tainted toys accounted for only a small percentage of all toys recalled, he said, adding that: “We understand and appreciate deeply the issues that this has caused for the reputation of Chinese manufacturers.”

In a statement issued by the company, Mattel said its lead-related recalls were “overly inclusive, including toys that may not have had lead in paint in excess of the U.S. standards.

“The follow-up inspections also confirmed that part of the recalled toys complied with the U.S. standards,” the statement said.

Li reminded Debrowski that “a large part of your annual profit ... comes from your factories in China.

“This shows that our cooperation is in the interests of Mattel, and both parties should value our cooperation. I really hope that Mattel can learn lessons and gain experience from these incidents,” Li said, adding that Mattel should “improve their control measures.”

Since this summer’s recall, Mattel has announced plans to upgrade its safety system by certifying suppliers and increasing the frequency of random, unannounced inspections. It has fired several manufacturers.

Tests had found that lead levels in paint in recalled toys were as high as 110,000 parts per million, or nearly 200 times higher than the accepted safety ceiling of 600 parts per million.

Mattel’s shares fell from the mid-$23 level following the first recall in early August, reaching as low as $20.97 on Sept. 10. They have since rebounded to the mid-$23 level again.

China has become a center for the world’s toy-making industry, exporting $7.5 billion worth of toys last year.

Monday, September 17, 2007

When Americans are High about Darfur, How About the Real Genocide In Iraq?

According to a new study, 1.2 million Iraqis have met violent deaths since the 2003 invasion, the highest estimate of war-related fatalities yet. The study was done by the British polling firm ORB, which conducted face-to-face interviews with a sample of over 1,700 Iraqi adults in 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Two provinces -- al-Anbar and Karbala -- were too dangerous to canvas, and officials in a third, Irbil, didn't give the researchers a permit to do their work. The study's margin of error was plus-minus 2.4 percent.

Field workers asked residents how many members of their own household had been killed since the invasion. More than one in five respondents said that at least one person in their home had been murdered since March of 2003. One in three Iraqis also said that at least some neighbors "actually living on [their] street" had fled the carnage, with around half of those having left the country.

In Baghdad, almost half of those interviewed reported at least one violent death in their household.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Greenspan's late confession: Iraq war was really for oil

AMERICA’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.

In his long-awaited memoir, to be published tomorrow, Greenspan, a Republican whose 18-year tenure as head of the US Federal Reserve was widely admired, will also deliver a stinging critique of President George W Bush’s economic policies.

However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says.

Greenspan, 81, is understood to believe that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the security of oil supplies in the Middle East.

Britain and America have always insisted the war had nothing to do with oil. Bush said the aim was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and end Saddam’s support for terrorism.